Animals, living and dead, at the heart of fire-ravaged Eastpoint

Melanie Cooper sits on a swing in her front yard with her boyfriend Bill Hattaway, in the background their vehicles and home which was burned to the ground with all of their belongings in the fire that ripped through their neighborhood on Wilderness Road in Eastpoint, Fla. The couple also lost their companion and service dog Toby in the fire.(Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat)Buy Photo

One of the only things left of Melanie Cooper’s home is a 22-year-old wooden swing hanging from an oak tree.

The Sunday wildfire that ravaged her small community of Eastpoint took her house, her earthly possessions — and, what's more precious, her beloved dog, Toby.

Cooper, 50, is almost completely deaf. The 6-year-old chocolate lab was her best friend. He was her companion and her unofficial service dog, said her boyfriend Bill Hattaway, 45, who lived with her off Wilderness Road.

"Where I found him is where he felt safest — my bedroom," said Hattaway. She said she'd just been away from the dog for two hours.

The dog's bones and skull were found when Hattaway dug through the charred plot of land where their house once stood.

"My mom's heart may never be the same," Cooper’s daughter, Natasha Vinson, said in an email.

In this picture of Toby, who perished in the Eastpoint fire, he is wearing spy goggles. Melanie Cooper put the goggles on him a joke because she always thought he needed glasses.(Photo: Special to the Democrat)

Vinson recalled her mom cradling the bucket of Toby's remains, mourning on the swing.

Eastpoint, a rural Gulf coast community of about 1,600 people, is populated by animals and animal lovers.

Franklin County Animal Control's Link Carroll, 46, has lived in Eastpoint all her life. She says many feral cats roam the area. Many families own several horses and goats.

"A lot of them didn't survive or didn't make it because people weren't home," said Carrol, an administrative assistant. "It was mass hysteria out there. It was horrible."

Fonda Davis, director of Franklin County Animal Control, said as of Tuesday afternoon, about 20 puppies and dogs had been reported to the center, as well as seven horses. Approximately half the canines were reunited with their owners, he said.

Due to limited space, other counties have been helping to temporarily shelter rescued animals, Davis added.

Hunting dogs are pretty common in the area, says Apalachicola Bay Animal Clinic's Dr. Marlaina Nelson. The clinic has treated only two animals for burns.

"Fortunately, the injuries we've seen have been pretty mild," she said. "Sadly, I think the ones that got the severe injuries must have passed."

Deliverance Tabernacle Church, a pick-up and drop-off location for pet relief donations, said as of Tuesday, 200 to 300 pounds of cat and dog food had been collected. The Bay clinic also has been soliciting donations from dog food and pharmaceutical companies to support families who have found their pets — but who have lost everything else.

Arlene Thompson, 53, is one of those people.

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Arlene King says the Eastpoint fire damaged her home Sunday, June 24, 2018. The fire may have damaged between 30-40 homes, according to a firefighter at the scene.
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Before her home was destroyed, she was able to flee with her chihuahua. But she worried about her 7-month-old pup, King.

On Tuesday morning, two days after the fire, Thompson shed tears of joy despite seeing her leveled home.

"We pulled up there... and that's the first thing we saw. (King) was there waiting on us — he survived. He's alive," Thompson said with relief.

"I guess he knew we'd come back for him," Thompson said. "I cried and laughed at the same time."